2023 HBCU Carolinas Showcase: Top Linebackers

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The 2nd Annual HBCU Carolinas Showcase by Charlotte Football Insiders brings HBCU colleges and universities from the Carolinas and beyond together to evaluate high school prospects for recruiting boards, offers, and evaluation by college coaches in person. This year over 200 players participated in the showcase at Harding High School in Charlotte, NC on a Thursday Night. Let's take a look at the top Linebackers from the showcase.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><br><strong>Beady Waddell - West Meck (MVP)</strong><br><br>Beady earned the overall MVP for the Linebacker position through the strength of showing an ability to play multiple positions - he challenged himself and played defensive back for a portion of the camp that it featured red zone 1-on-1s. He did this unprompted and performed well in short spaces against wide receivers. That kind of mentality and ability will take him places for sure. A 2024 prospect standing at 6'0 and 215 pounds, he may project to a hybrid SS/OLB box player on the next level, so exposure to the passing game in this setting is a good thing. He is a team leader and should have a big senior season. <br><strong><br>[player_tooltip player_id='429230' first='Jay' last='Jackson'] - North Stanly </strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>At 6'1 and 215 pounds, Jackson is a very solidly built young man who can be a big impact in the middle of a defense. He has enough athletic ability to cover backs and tight ends without being a major liability. Jay recently visited Syracuse University amongst other Division 1 schools and has enough ability to help a program for sure. Jay excelled in agility drills and can move laterally and come downhill with good technique in the run game. <br><strong><br>[player_tooltip player_id='680331' first='Tyquan' last='Rankin'] - Butler</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Tyquan was definitely in consideration for the MVP of the linebacker group for this showcase. An All-Conference player &amp; Defensive Player Of The Year last season for Butler, Tyquan is an absolute tackling machine in the middle of the defense. At 5'10 and 205 pounds, Rankin diagnoses run/pass very well and show excellent agility in reading plays. He flashed good coverage skills in 1 on 1's versus running backs as well. Tyquan is a 2024 prospect that will see college interest as we get into the season this fall. <br><strong><br>Julian Platt - Rocky River</strong><br><br>Everyone else listed in this talented linebacker group was a known commodity, but I did not know much about Julian coming into this showcase. What I learned was that this 6'1 and 195 pound 2025 prospect did some impressive things to put himself on the recruiting map in my opinion. Very agile and fluid through the agility circuit and individual drills, the growth in Platt's game this offseason has been exponential. He also did a great job in pass coverage in 1 on 1's. I expect Julian to continue to show well throughout camp season. <br><br><strong>Kendrick Davis - Harding</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>At 6'2 and 195 pounds, I expected Kendrick to come in and put on a good performance on his home turf, and he did just that. Holding an offer from Charlotte as a 2025 prospect, Kendrick is on course to have a big summer once he hits the camp circuit and performs like he did on Thursday. Excellent agility and change of direction at his size will have colleges excited. He's a definite 3-down linebacker who can play some in the middle in passing situations and play weakside linebacker on run downs. I enjoyed seeing him come downhill in the individual portion of the showcase also. <br><strong><br>[player_tooltip player_id='148052' first='Caleb' last='Edstrom'] - Mooresville (Overall Camp MVP)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Caleb was named Overall Camp MVP mainly because of his aggressiveness, competitiveness, and great technique he played with throughout the showcase. He's a leader, and he is someone that can bring the juice when no one else has it. He excelled really well in the open space 1 on 1's between linebackers and running backs - coming downhill and being decisive before the running back could make a move. He also showed improved pass coverage versus running backs, a reflection of his hard work so far this offseason. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->